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| AIRCRAFT FROM OVER THE ATLANTIC 26/03/2010 |
| (2010-03-26) |
| Last updated: 2010-03-29 13:19 EET |
“The F16 business turns Europe against the US”, headlines the daily paper ADEVARUL, after on Tuesday, Romania’s Higher Defence Council approved the purchase of 24 US F16 used fighters. Technically, they are supposed to replace by 2013 the fleet of MIG 21 Lancer fighters owned by the Romanian army, which has been a NATO member since 2004. The MIG 21 Lancers were produced by the former Soviet allies in the Warsaw Treaty dozens of years ago and upgraded in 1992. Financially, the decision to buy second hand fighters was motivated by the lack of money to buy new multi-role planes.
Politically, the purchase is a confirmation of the privileged relations between Bucharest and Washington, stipulated in a strategic partnership agreement, tested in the theaters of operation in Afghanistan and Iraq and consolidated by the setting up in Romania of US military bases and elements of the anti-missile shield. None of those arguments were good enough to convince the main European competitors of the American producer of F16. “ The war has started:
Gripen and Eurofighter against the F16 wreck”, reads the daily paper GANDUL. In an unusually harsh communiqué, the multi-national consortium that produces the Eurofighter Typhoon, recognized as being more modern than F16, blames ‘the decision not to hold an open tender, which has deprived Romania of yet another opportunity to strengthen ties with the airspace industry in Europe”. Equally annoyed were the Swedish from SAAB, manufacturing the Gripen fighters. ‘It’s a crazy business’ SAAB marketing director for Romania told Jurnalul National.
As the decision of the Higher Defence Council is to be debated and subsequently endorsed by Parliament, SAAB has called for the alternative offers to reach the MPs as well, so that they may know what they vote for”. In the meantime, ADEVARUL estimates that the renewal of the military air fleet, a process due to end in 2028 and in which the transaction with the US is just one first stage, will eventually cost Romania 7.6 billion dollars.
For the time being, though, under the headline ‘In exchange for’, the daily paper ROMANIA LIBERA quotes the US Ambassador to Bucharest, Mark Gittensteing, who talks about the setting up of an American - Romanian foundation that will invest 150 million dollars in the development of the small and medium sized towns outside Bucharest. It’s a gift from the American people, Gittenstein also said.
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